My name is Bill Pilcher, and I'm running for Allen ISD School Board Trustee Place 3.  Growing up in Richardson, I graduated from JJ Pearce High School, and went to Texas A&M University where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree before moving back to the area.  After three years in sales and finance, I was moved to join the Air Force, so in 1986, I was commissioned as a second lieutenant through Officer Training School. I served for almost 25 years (1986-2011), retiring as a Colonel.  Along the way, I had numerous operational deployments, some amazing staff assignments, and I earned a Master of Science in Operations Management from the University of Arkansas.

After my military career, I made the transition back to the civilian sector, first in business development for a defense contractor, then as Executive Director of Dallas ISD's Project Management Office.  From there, I got back into business development, this time for an aerial firefighting company.  Most recently, I am the Chief Information Officer providing technology at a Public Charter school district, International Leadership of Texas.

I'm married and have four wonderful kids, two of whom, a current senior and a sophomore at Allen HS, are fortunate to have attended Allen ISD schools from the beginning.

Our students need to feel safe in their schools.  Parents shouldn't have to worry about their children. Teachers and administrators should also feel safe. It is incumbent on us to do everything we can to keep safety in the forefront.  While we've seen lost funding opportunities, I support providing the training resources to better equip students, teachers, and staff safe.  Besides training, I believe existing technologies, partnerships with our law enforcement and other first responders, and hardening our facilities can provide an increased security posture without having to divert funding from other critical areas. I also support working hard with our state legislatures to ensure adequate funding for this critical subject.

All school districts have been put in a bind by these under- or unfunded requirements levied on us.  A school district cannot run on Teachers and students alone.  An infrastructure of support must be considered and provided for.  I support partnering with the Chamber of Commerce, the Foundation for Allen schools, the PTA, and businesses to find creative ways to overcome these funding shortfalls. Beyond the 2024-2025 school year, we need to ensure our legislators understand the position they put school districts in with these mandates without providing the necessary resources.

Allen is a diverse city.  That's one of the draws that helps bring in new families and businesses to our area. I support providing the tools, opportunity, and a couple important things I believe are sometimes missing - access, encouragement, and mentoring for all our students so they can be successful while in our schools, after graduation, and in our community.

Having spent almost 25 years in the military where personnel compensation typically lags the civilian sector, plus work experience in two school districts, I've seen creative, low cost ways to take care of our teachers. Of course, higher pay helps, but other initiatives like recognition programs, more planning time, smaller classes, fewer meetings, less paperwork, shorter hours, even things like paid sabbaticals and grants for those exceptional teachers will help.  For retention, sending recruiters to college campuses, to military veterans' job fairs (there is a lot of education experience there), and continuing to implement alternative teacher certification programs.